So update on casualties from Ukraine:
Ukraine
Dead: 43,000
Wounded: 370,000
Russia
Dead: 198,000
Wounded: 550,000
So update on casualties from Ukraine:
Ukraine
Dead: 43,000
Wounded: 370,000
Russia
Dead: 198,000
Wounded: 550,000
The one with the rifle shoots, when the… etc etc
“Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Mr Trump wrote, claiming that Kyiv had “ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians”.
This was apparently posted on “Truth Social”, a platform that Trump owns?
I think I saw that Zelensky indicated that they can make a deal, but it has to hinge on the fact that Russia won’t be able to re-build their forces and just attack 7 years down the track. It may mean territorial concessions and then agreement on them joining NATO
Ukraine has a much higher, Western standard of WIA treatment. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Russia KIA is double that. Reports suggest a lot of wounded Russian casualties dont get access to basic battlefield treatment such as tourniquets. A lot of the mobik recruits have to provide this themselves - if they can afford it. Then there’s medical training of which those Russians I guarentee you are getting none. There’s reports of wounded Russians surrendering to Ukranian forces who freak out at soldiers providing basic first aid before they get sent behind the lines for more advanced treatment.
Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the Russian wounded who do make it to the battlefield aren’t making it in time to a field hospital, let alone a proper hospital. Remember in the early days of the war the Russians were (and probably still are) deploying mobile crematoriums.
Hope so, Blinken wants Ukraine to send 18-25 year olds to the front line. Nutcase.
I mean they already are sending them. They haven’t had to stoop to mass conscription yet though
We did it to send them to Vietnam…
The chief of Olenivka prison was killed today when his car exploded in the middle of Donetsk city. I’m not sure if people will remember, but he was the man that was running the prison, near the start of the war, that was housing a few hundred Azov members would have been captured in Mariupol. The Russians blew up the prison, killing almost all the prisoners and then tried to blame it on a Ukrainian rocket attacked.
In another crazy attack, Ukrainian naval drones have managed to penetrate all the way through to the Kerch bridge surroundings. They had some crazy targeting systems that engaged and damaged multiple Russian helicopters in the area. The fact that managed to pretty much get from Odesa to Kerch without detection is pretty astounding.
The Russian general in charge of Nuclear Forces was just assassinated with a car bomb in Moscow
Those goddamn lithium batteries at it again.
Ukraine has taken responsibility
You’ve heard that there’s a Russian Orthodox Advent Calendar? Every day you open a window and a businessman falls out.
Marjorie Taylor Green needs to update her conspiracies. Looks like Ukraine has beaten Israel to the “space lasers” concept. Ukraine has just revealed they’ve developed a laser that’s capable of hitting aircraft at a range of up to 2km. Experts are saying it’s feasible and will most likely be put into use to shoot down cruise missiles. Has the added benefit that it doesn’t really need ammunition. It’s being called “Tryzub” or “Trident”
Haven’t really posted much in here as there honestly haven’t been that many developments on this front at all. There’s been extremely small and steady incremental gains in the Donetsk area, however they’ve been on the back of absolutely massive losses.
Russian counterattacks in Kursk have ended with a suspected total of 30,000+ casualties. A few weeks ago, there was suggestions that 10% of the North Korean forces were either dead or wounded. Some of the documents found on N. Korean corpses are chilling though. They show tactics to defeat FPV drones, essentially involving teams of 3 soldiers, where an individual will offer himself up as a human decoy while his comrades shoot the drone down. Other documents tell them the glory of dying for North Korea rather than being captured.
The biggest developments though:
Pokrovsk is now under direct threat, with some fighting on the outskirts. It controls a major supply line and would be a fairly big loss of Ukrainian forces. It is however a fortress town and sizeable, so the battle there will be huge and most likely cause more losses than any other battles to date.
Ukraine has officially cut off all gas supplies running through the country from Russia. Previously, pipelines have remained opened as they fed a huge portion of natural gas to Europe. This was essentially to allow European countries to shift away from Russian fuel and a gesture from Ukraine to the West. The contracts are now over and there’s nothing going now, will cause a huge decrease in income for Russia. Gazprom is no longer a profitable company for Russia, something that hasn’t occurred for decades. Slovakia has come out strongly against the closure (they have a pro-Putin government) and the Prime Minister has threatened to cut aid, however government agencies have indicated they have iron clad contracts and will continue these. The biggest lose is Transnistria, which no longer has any gas supplies and is facing a terrible second half of winter.
Last night, reports that Russian troops were forced to withdraw from positions in Kursk, after Ukraine launched a further major offensive to the North East of the Kursk salient. Still early days as the offensive is a few hours in the making, however early reports are looking very positive with some decent pushes being made.
Ukraine has reported that Russia suffered 429,660 casualties last year. Almost double what they had in 2023. This includes KIA and wounded. They’ve also reported a consistent increase in Russian casualties on a month by month basis for the past 6 months. They had 40,000+ casualties in December alone. Total now is sitting at 790,000+ losses
Reading about Chinese Belt and Road policy and this feels kind of pertinent to this thread:
I find that whole Central Asia area absolutely fascinating. The culture is an absolute melting pot of Asian, Arab and European influences. We went to a Uyghur restaurant in Melbourne and the food was out of this world. You could see the Turkish/Arab influence with the focus on lamb kebabs etc. The soup was very much a European style soup that we had and then dumplings were 100% Asian style.
Geopoliically though, they’re all over the place. So many internal rivalries that, in fairness, have generally been held in check by Russia. With Russia shifting it’s vision towards Ukraine, they’ve already lost a large number of allies in the area, considering they can see the writing on the wall as well. It will be interesting to see how that whole area plays out. There’s ridiculous money there and they can more than hold their own if they were properly run.
On a separate note, you can really see the difference between Western and Russian armour over the past few weeks. Recent video of a Striker returning to base showed that it had been hit 6 times (directly) yet all crew survived and managed to return home. Another Striker (or Bradley, can’t remember) was shown to have run out of ammo in Kursk. They proceeded to run over and crush around 3 Russian soldiers in a field. You even have an F-16 who’s pilot shot down 6 cruise missiles in a single mission, a record in that aircraft. Considering they’ve only recently received them, that’s nothing short of astounding!
Leading onto this, Rheinmetall has confirmed they have shipped new state-of-the-art Lynx IFVs to Ukraine. These vehicles have never seen action and will be tested in the field, before being deployed. France has confirmed Mirage 5000 aircraft are imminently entering the battlefield in Ukraine. Mixed reports on whether they have been received or about to be received. Definitely not an expert but, would they be similar enough to F16s in terms of controls? My understanding is that NATO doctrine pushes cross compatibility, just not sure if this would follow to controls etc. I’m guessing it’d be easier going from an F-16 to a Mirage than going from a Russian aircraft to a Western one.